We've seen established members of the optical industry partner with smartphone makers before. Nokia high-end phones used to come with Carl Zeiss branded lenses and Schneider Kreuznach optics have been used in various models from Chinese manufacturer Oppo. Now it seems we could soon see Leica-branded lenses and other imaging technology in Huawei smartphones as the two manufacturers have today announced a 'Long-term Technology Partnership for the Reinvention of Smartphone Photography'.

Richard Yu, CEO of the Huawei Consumer BG said: 'We choose our partners carefully, and with this extraordinary collaboration we are offering our wide customer base and consumers the best elements of two expert brands in harmony: combining innovation and design, enhancing the user experience and continuing to inspire amazing advancement in human technology through exceptional premium imaging quality. Leica is a legend in the world of photography; we believe no other manufacturer has revolutionised the industry as much as them. We, Huawei, take the utmost pride in exceptional quality and Leica is in a class of its own in its sector.'

Huawei has been the third largest smartphone manufacturer in the world and in 2015 was the first Chinese company to sell more than 100 million mobile phones in one year. Leica is arguably the most prestigious name in the camera industry and a company that has been making cameras and lenses of the highest quality for more than 100 years. Some of the most iconic images in the history of photography have been captured with Leica equipment.

Oliver Kaltner, CEO of Leica Camera AG said: "The strategic alliance between Huawei and Leica Camera demonstrates the desire of two rapidly growing and globally active brands to continuously push the envelope of the technologically possible. In addition to innovative strength and premium standards, our two companies are united by the commitment to uncompromising quality. The technology partnership with Huawei offers Leica Camera an excellent opportunity to introduce its proven optical expertise into a new product segment and to unlock exciting business areas in the field of mobile devices. Smartphones make a very important contribution to the world of photography and open an important door for Leica to new target groups and fields of application."

The partnership will include the areas of research and development, design, co-engineering, user experience, marketing and retail distribution but no details on specific products or projects have been shared yet. We are intrigued to see what this strategic cooperation of two big players in their respective sectors will bring, but one should not be too surprised if we'll see a Huawei smartphone with Leica-branded optics at some point in the near future.

Hahah what an amusing scenario. Not a long shot actually. Schneider-Kreuznach optics used in Samsung cameras and lately in Oppo phones are reportedly not all made by the German maker. Samsung's Schneider-branded lenses are made by, tadaa, Pentax! In fairness, those products do satisfy the German company's manufacturing specifications and carry on the distinct German mark of quality. Some of Sony's Zeiss glass also is already made in Japan by Sony. In a similar vein, Panasonic used technology it inherited or learned from Leitz Wetzlar to make its Lumix G Vario lens. The non-optics pedigree companies have used their financial and commercial muscle to bring us the best in optics in their phones, and we are all the happier for it.

Let's not forget that Leica already sold their soul many years ago to Panasonic, with their very ordinary 'Leica Dicomar' lenses even on cheap camcorders. Perhaps this sort of badge engineering actually fools some people.

Of course this is very much about Huawei buying the right to decorate their flagship models with the Leica badge. But there may be quite a bit more to it, for neither seems to have a very strong position in the actual product segment - Huawei needs to be there, and for Leica it could be quite lucrative to be there. So why not go there together?

Yes I suppose. Huewai wants the prestige of the Leica branding, Leica want what could be the lucrative licensing fees from such branding. It's just a marketing thing for the former and a money making thing for the latter. That's all basically.

Leica still needs to pay their employees and all that research and development work. They have to get money for that and any way of getting money seems to be OK for me. I'm happy that this company still alive and doing business.

Seriously, having had the displeasure to use Huawei phones, I can state confidently that they are hot garbage. That plus the baggage of their deep ties to the PLA, and their well-known sordid history of industrial spying, and I can see no reason why any Western company would want to get in bed with them (aside, I suppose, from the 1.4 billion reasons living in China).

I guess it just goes to show that the so-called Leica technology advantages really are merely smoke if they're so willing to hand the keys to the kingdom to known criminals.

form amazon review:" They are terrible not all of them work and come broken. I was disappointed. Some of the caps held on to the marker tip and I think you should not spend your money on these just buy real sharpies."

Ridiculous. You are VASTLY overestimating the appeal of Leica to hipsters. Most don't give a rat's ass about photography or know who Leica is, whereas Apple has the advantage of having arguably the most recognizable brand on the planet right now while at the same time somehow retaining some kind of counter-cultural cachet among the hipsterati. .

Not shure, any brand with history and the appeal of "different" seem to have potential, apple was nothing in the age of dumbphones. If huawei makes a phone with good specs and great camera, with a leica mount and Leica design it so it looks weird and puts the leica logo on it. Leica can have made a homerun in the hipster-community. That is how huawei use to do it, so people don't know how big they are.

China is moving aggressively to deny Freedom of Navigation to the U.S. and its allies in the South China Sea and western companies are still investing in China? Leica's optical designs and manufacturing processes will be stolen before Leica coffers are Swollen.

Based on the comments here, the partnership between Huawei and Leica won't actually have to "reinvent smartphone photography" in order to exceed expectations. I'll ty to keep an open mind and hope they push the needle a bit in the right direction in a phone market that has stagnated with regard to camera performance.

Very savvy move on Huawei. They make great phones but many don't know they exist. Attaching their brand to Leica gives them instant name recognition without having to spend millions of dollars in advertising.

Huawei phones are actually excellent, offers great performance for their price. Which is part of the reason why they are doing so well (better than most western mobile companies because they know how to do business), in fact most Chinese companies knows how to do business that's why western companies are declaring bankruptcies while being bought out by the dozens by Chinese companies.

I think you are correct. Huawei got the knowledge of telecommunications, pretty sure that if you would look into it you would be surprised, I bet the gps in huawei beats iphone by miles for example, but it is just a guess.

I can't wait to see the Red Dot on some the cheapest Chinese smartphones. Leica must largely exist on the basis of licensing fees. What's next? A Chinese made "Leica" action cam? A Chinese "Leica" smartwatch?

Samsung was also not that big and it is also Korean.China has a bigger market and Chinese economy is giant!Second world war times,everything was like "made in Japan" like it is "made in China" now...Was again cheap low quality stuff as Chinese stuff of todays.But in time Japan economy got bigger and their technology too.Now it is the same for China!Everything made in China is not low quality anymore,they have really sturdy stuff too!

Xiaomi spends basically no money for R&D, marketing and US distribution so that's why their phones are so cheap. Their price won't stay that cheap if the compete in level ground as others.

And Samsung used to make basically everything, including cars, high-fi audios, tanks, missiles, trucks, excavators.... They made first smartphone around 2000, a number of tablet PCs way in advance of iPads (and they did manufacture THE first tablet PC, gridpad in 1989!)

it is impossible to reinvent smartphone photography, we have seen galaxy nx already, fixed lenses are the norm and now 360 is here. Both Huawei and leica is skilled companies but the concept of reinventing is traditional advertisement.Maybe they are going to make an xray-smartphone camera with bikini see through technology but probably not.It will be regular phone/sensor/lens with leica badge on a chinese lens ,ofcourse.

Made-in-China aren't what they used to be, in fact some of the world's highest quality items are made in China, China has perfected generations of manufacturing process that no other countries are able to match, most of the high quality stuff are mostly robot/machine made anyways, so its not like the same machine in Germany is going to be much better than the same machine in China. All you need to do is to send a couple of German engineers over to do some QC and you are set employing some of the world's best workhorse.

@ shigzeo I was not talking about Samsung's smartphone department.When those companies are established,their primary target is to get bigger in their own countries.This is why I mentioned Samsung as the example.

@Xentius: The problem with that logic is that EVERY company out there started from ground zero with smart phones. Some were tiny companies. Some were recovering companies. The only company that had more revenue than all of Venezuela at the launch of their first smartphone was Samsung. Samsung are too large to fail in any segment into which they really pour resources. And having one of the world's largest supply chains and distribution channels, they could attack the smartphone market like no one, not even Apple, could.

Which is all to say: I don't get the comparison. Every smartphone maker started at the same place. Samsung happened to have a large dumbphone presence. They were the largest corporate entity in the world. The rest is history.

shigzeo,I don't know what else to say really.I said I was NOT talking about when Samsung joined smartphone market...I know they were in the dumbphone market before.They were in AC business earlier(still are),they also were selling fish,fruit etc. long long time ago.Maybe just because my comment is under a smartphone-camera partnership,you are focusing on just smartphone market.Samsung is one of the largest company of the world for years...I know that very well even before dumbphone business.

@dcshooter: Pentax have always had to compete on price, being less expensive than their rivals. Leica have never had to do that. But they certainly don't price their stuff 5x more than the competition. Whether or not your agree with their modus operandi, their bodies are far more expensive to produce than the competition. The sensors they use are usually two years behind the curve, but that's it.

Leica would put their name on a handbag if the fee was adequate, so a cell phone is no problem.Actually, Leica will learn something about compact optics from this partnership, so the deal makes mutual sense, Huawei gets a profile boost and Leica gets a foothold in a growth market.

Huawei is the smart part in this alliance, huawei is not first and foremost a phone maker but a communications company comparable to motorola and similar. What leica is offering to huawei is a brand name for the masses. it will work.

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